Elective Placements in Iloilo

It’s finally time to speak about the elective placements I was able to complete whilst in Iloilo. I completed 4 weeks in total. My first 2 weeks were based at the state university hospital in internal medicine. This ward was separated into three sections; infectious, non infectious and chemotherapy. This hospital is state run and is a teaching hospital collaborating with university’s in the Philippines. My week 3 & 4 I moved to a government run medical centre where I spent 2 weeks in the emergency department. This department was not seperated as such but involved pediatric and adult cases. I spent most of my time in the trauma wing and outside in triage, I found this benefited my learning extremely by seeing the admission process to compare with UKs process. 

Before I travelled to the Philippines I had the opportunity to speak with the UK coordinator regarding queries and questions I had and discuss where I would like to be placed. I chose two different hospitals as I wanted to experience the difference between a hopsital needing payment or insurance for medical supplies/prescription and a free hospital. 

Starting at the state university hopsital I was introduced to the chief nursing team and the internal medicine nursing team. As it is a teaching hopsital they are used to students, I was assigned a supervisor each day who I  follower during their rounds and assigned tasks. I found a large difference between nurses in the Uk and in the Philippines that they don’t get involved in personal care or feeding of their patients, the family’s of the patients are with them 24/7 to assist with their needs. I found this strange at first but actually found this heart warming and it really showed how much their families care for each other. I mostly worked in the non infectious area and the chemotherapy unit where I saw many interesting cases such as; Leukaemia diagnosed patients, mutiple uncontrolled diabetes cases both type 1 and type 2, a patient with a tracheostomy and abdominal obstructions to name a few. I found it very interesting observing the nurses communicating with other staff and patients. The  preparations of medications and feeding preparation. I also saw some similarities to the UK; such as their charting is paper based, the orders and tasks are written by clinicians and the rounding style is almost the same as in the UK. The nurses were surprised that this is similar to the UK, I explained it may not be the same in every trust in the UK but in my trust their aren’t much differences. I found more comfortable reading notes as I felt I knew what I was looking for. 

During my time in the emergency department, I involved myself in as much exposure as I could regarding adult and pediatric cases. I spent most of my time in trauma and triage in the non infectious area. It was split depending on covid status; I was able to view the area where infectious patients were placed but for our own safety I spent my time in the no infectious area. I also was able to spend time in critical care area where I was able to observe interbated patients, discuss their conditions with the attendant and their ongoing care. 

Most of my shifts were mornings Monday to Friday but I was able to do nights and afternoons whilst in the ER which I found very beneficial to see the difference in staffing and patients. I was informed by staff that nights were more busier, so on my final week I did more afternoon/nights to gain more experience during my placement. I was able to see patients with mutiple conditions including respiratory failure, burns, motorcycle accidents, car accidents and deceased on arrival. It was difficult viewing these scenes but being their with other students allowed me to reflect on what had happened. 

The working environment is very different at times but like I’ve said their are some things that are very similar. Their practise style is different but the outcome is the same. To treat the patient to the best of their ability, diagnosing their condition and having a active treatment plan. 

During my time I was very lucky that most of the staff spoke English very well! I was informed they learn english during their schooling. I was able to take a couple language classes to gain both conversational phrases and medical phases. In Iloilo the native language is hiligaynon also referred too as illonggo. It is a Iloilo provenice dialect, I thought it very interesting and was able to practise some phrases during my time on placement. I definitely think my pronunciation needs some work though!!

I’ll attach some images of myself on placement; I couldn’t take photos inside either hospitals due to confidentiality though.